Search results

That's within the normal range of f-lock behaviors. BTW, despite what some people will say, airlock activity and fermentation are surely correlated as long as the fermenter is sealed (which wasn't initially the case for your second airlock). The correlation is not 100%, so you should never use...

Probably approaching borderline drinkable - age softens many offensive flavors. Reminds me of a friend's experiment with "Zeroth Order" wine. What happens if you give the yeast just what it needs, and nothing else: water, sugar, yeast nutrient. After a year you could drink it, but I don't think...

Beer is neat. I am so using that quote. Speaking of burritos, beer, and gas, the other beer-gas connection is a major factor in swmbo-imposed homebrew consumption limits. They don't seem to be applied to burritos, though, which seem like a bigger offender to me.

No - coffee has no fermentables, and the tiny amount of dissolved solids will give it an OG negligibly different from water. So the simplest thing to do is just derate your primary OG by the amount that you're changing the volume by adding the coffee. For example, if you increase your volume by...

I don't think it will make much difference when you add the water treatments, but I think the protein rest is a waste of time. Modern malts don't need it.

I think your guess is right on - degassing. CO2 is much less soluble as you warm up. I think it is more noticeable in wines because the ferments evolve so much more CO2, but it applies to beer as well.

Awesome project to get past SWMBO - congrats. What's the recommended temp controller?

Nah, with modern malts, you're probably doing more harm than good with a 100F rest. Also, it seems pretty screwy to add prescribed amounts of hot water every so often rather than targeting conversion temperature(s).

Sure - that's a reasonable way to estimate it - I assume by Total FG you mean effective delta FG. It's not exact, but close enough. My question is this: could you really measure the effect of the raisins in the secondary OG? I'd have thought the grape sugar would dissolve over time.

Since I'm not a chemist, I think I'd need to have alkalinity vs. pH explained again. I usually use just a tiny bit of phosphoric acid, based on an experiment I did a long time ago to see its affect on my water pH. I don't taste the acid at this level, and consider it just one of those...

Sulphury is a natural odor, and has nothing to do with vinegar. Vinegar comes from fermenting alcohol to acetic acid, and you need a mother-of-vinegar culture to do this. The natural yeasts from the apples/pears should do the trick - you just may need to keep an open mind as to what the flavor...

To calculate efficiency, you need to know the theoretical extract from each of the grains. Yours are about this: Cara Munich 33 Cara Vienne 34 German Pilsner Malt 38 Munich Malt 37 The unit (usually denoted p/p/g) is point-gallons/pound. Multiply...

There is no single definitive answer to this. You can let a cider/beer/wine age for months and still get good carbonation if a) the yeast was healthy when it went dormant, and 2) you make sure you suck up a bit when you bottle/keg. For added insurance, you could pitch just a bit of dry yeast...

Not too many flavors! To me, the vanilla, bourbon, and oak are natural together, and fit with an imperial stout. A couple of comments. This one is gonna need a long time for the flavors to settle down. Also, you must be looking for something really chewy with the lactose and malto-dextrine...

If you really want a Porter, you should leave out the black barley altogether. Roasted barley is what gives a Stout that sharp/roasted flavor. It's not a hard-and-fast distinction, and if that's the profile you're looking for, go with it. If you're looking for something more porterly, skip the...

OK to make up for speed-reading the first post, here's another stab at it: Safale 05 is definitely not the source of phenolics at <15C fermentation temp. Your sanitation procedures sound solid. I use acidified bleach sometimes without problems, though I don't completely trust it as a no-rinse...

You don't mention the yeast strain. It could be an artifact of the yeast strain that will mellow out with age, but it seems more likely to me that you either 1) have an infection by wild yeast/bacteria that is giving a phenolic flavor, or 2) somehow got sanitizer in the wort. The follow-on...

I'd guess 7 lb of DME would get you >~ 6% abv. You need to use a recipe calculator! Spices are fine, depending on the intensity you're looking for. Bitterness is going to be pretty low for this heavy a beer (maybe <~ 20 IBU). I realize you want the spices to come through, but this would be...

I've used ground cinnamon a couple times in apple-cinnamon meads, and the result was wonderful. It is surely possible to use too much cinnamon, but I taste that as hot/spicy, not bitter. I guess YMMV.

Autolysis is not impossible, but in my experience very unlikely. I've used EC-1118 for many wines, and have never been very fastidious about getting them off the yeast sediment. This has never caused autolysis. I know what autolysis tastes like - more like rubber bands to my palate, but I guess...